Mary, the Free - 3

Children create a mother out of an ordinary woman.
- Janice M. Van Dyck in Finding Frances


I hope I can put into words what I believe about motherhood, and then make a connection to Mary, the mother of our Lord. This subject is probably way beyond me, but is it such a bad thing for a woman's reach to exceed her grasp?

What I think and believe is pretty archaic, really. It is old wisdom. In fact, I believe it is as old as Creation itself, eternal wisdom, even. At this point in my life, I want to sink down further into that Wisdom, into God Himself. Okay, so, I just took a leap, there, but isn't  life about Him, since He is Life itself? Sooner or later the leap has to be made. The alternative is death and deep darkness. So much more could and should be said. I'll just throw that idea out there.

John 14:6
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

So, I'll wrap this up for now and say that if you look at Mary, she was a pretty ordinary woman, a woman of her time and circumstance. Here is what she said about herself.:

Luke 1:52

He has brought down the mighty from their thrones

and exalted those of humble estate;


She was talking about all of Israel, and including herself in the category of "those of humble estate."


So, she had no special status in society. Her fiance, and later husband, Joseph, was a construction worker. Now, the idea that Joseph was a construction worker has an historical basis. Sure, maybe he also worked in wood, so he could be called a carpenter. But Galilee where he and Mary lived is not a forested area. What they have are rocks, lots of them. The ruins of the buildings around the Sea of Galilee are made from rocks, not wood. I will try to document what I say, here, but for now, I'll just throw that out there. He was indeed, just an average Joe.  Yes, there is more to their background than what their outward appearance at the time of Roman occupation demonstrated, but outwardly, they were what we might call  humble,  small-town folk, working hard to make a living.

In fact we would not have known anything about her 2,000 years later if it had not been for her Child. It is that Child which made her not just a mother, but the mother and that woman. What woman?

So, I think that Van Dyck's observation about motherhood is right in the sweet spot of capturing the essence of motherhood. A Child turned an ordinary woman into the most important mother of all mothers after Eve, who was the mother of all living.